Alba 6-26-2022
SO THIS IS SIN TOO?
Romans 14:22-23
A man went to see a psychiatrist and told him, "I’ve been doing some bad things, Doc, and my conscience is troubling me."
The psychiatrist thought about that and then said: "And you want something that will strengthen your will power?" But the man replied, "Well, no. I was thinking of something that might weaken my conscience."
Someone said that when he was a kid, he used to pray to God for a bicycle. When he realized it didn’t work that way, he stole one and prayed for forgiveness! It is very unhealthy for people to have such a casual approach to sin. But sadly it is often the case today.
We think that God is nothing but a God of love, and that He loves us so much He will forgive us of anything. That is only partly true. God will forgive us - if we are trying to live for Him.
In 1973, the world-renowned psychiatrist Karl Menninger wrote a book entitled: “Whatever Became of Sin?” In his book the doctor projected the day would come when sin would no longer be an element of the human vernacular.
He speculated that the explanation of sin and wrongdoing would be replaced by rationalizations excusing individual accountability.
Menninger predicted the term sin would be replaced with words like illness, disorder, dysfunction, syndrome, etc. The human condition would be excused as a product of biochemistry, environment, experience, and trauma.
He projected that even crime would go unpunished as criminal activity would be justified and minimized as the result of some medical abnormality for which one could not be held responsible.
According to Menninger’s prognostication, the day was approaching when practically everyone would be considered sick and their conduct pardonable.
No longer would there be any liability for human error, choice, and willful conduct. Everyone would be innocent, vindicated through biology, psychiatry, and humanistic reasoning.
Aren’t we just about there? The good doctor was a pretty good prophet! The problem is, the Bible still is quite plain about the existence and dangers of sin.
For the Christian, sin can crop up in unusual places. Romans chapter 14 deals with differences of opinion about whether one should eat meat or only vegetables, and about observing special days.
The conclusion of that discussion in chapter fourteen is that neither position has to do with salvation, so both are permissible and acceptable to God.
But then the chapter ends with these words of warning in verses 22 and 23. 22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.
As Christians we know a lot about sin. Not necessarily because we do it so often, but if we have been reading our Bibles and paying attention to sermons and Bible lessons, we have heard a lot about sin. So we know what it is! In fact we know that there are lists of various sins in the Bible. One is in Ephesians 5:3-5
It says there, 3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
We look at that list and think, “Well, I'm glad that I'm not guilty of most of those things!” Especially when we read the next verses that say, 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.
As I said in my previous sermon on Romans 14, in order to know right from wrong, we follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Word. Because scripture, when taken without the manipulation and interpretation of man, clearly defines what God expects from us.
There are certain things that are wrong. In the Bible, it’s always wrong to tell a lie. According to the Bible, it’s always wrong to commit adultery.
According to the Bible, homosexual behavior is always wrong. According to the Bible, it’s always wrong to murder, always wrong to steal. You can’t ever get around it.
But also in the Bible, there are some things that are right. It is always right to be faithful to your mate. It is always right to be honest. It is always right to be loving. It is always right to honor and respect your parents. There is wrong, and there is right.
Sin begins with our attitudes and our thoughts. It is when we allow confusion in our minds about what is right and what is wrong, that's when we get into trouble.
Jesus warned us in Mark 7:21-23, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
One should consider the eternal consequences of sin before choosing to commit it. The actor, Robert Downey, Jr. has had a years-long battle with alcohol and drugs. He has been in and out of jail. But he is keeping himself sober these days.
When a reporter asked him how he was doing, he replied that he couldn’t drink or do drugs anymore because he was allergic to alcohol and narcotics. He said every time he took them, he broke out in handcuffs. That man finally understood the consequences of his actions.
But back to our text in Romans chapter fourteen. It says that “whatever is not from faith is sin.” So even that is sin??? So if we are doing something just to go along, even though we are convinced it is wrong, we are sinning? That is what it says.
Here is the warning: no one should act against his or her conscience. It is not spiritually healthy to do so, and it is also displeasing to God.
Adam Clarke was a sales clerk in a store that sold fine silk to people of the upper classes in London. One day his employer showed young Adam how he could increase sales and profits by stretching the silk as he measured it out.
Young Adam Clarke looked his employer straight in the eye and said, “Sir, your silk may stretch, but my conscience won’t.”
Our conscience should not be our guide in determining truth (the Bible should be our guide), but it should be our guard in the sense that it can keep us from wrong paths that lead to destruction.
One who doubts that what he is doing is right, the Scripture says he is condemned if he does it. From the context, we know that this statement applies even to activities that are not wrong in and of themselves, like eating meat offered to idols.
If we think something is wrong to do, and we do it anyway, it is sin. Even if God never said that the activity itself is wrong. This is because our choice has not been made because of faith, but because of some other motive, usually to please people instead of pleasing God.
Whatever is done without the conviction that God has approved it, is by definition sin. God has called us to a life of faith. We need a willingness to put all of the actions of our life before God for His approval.
When we doubt that something we are doing is right for us to do, that automatically removes that something from the category of what is acceptable.
Did you ever do something and then think to yourself, “OK, if someone asks me about this, what am I going to tell them?” Sometimes it’s just a small thing, but it is those small sins that get us in trouble the most.
Imagine all the obstacles a person might have to overcome if he were to walk from New York City to San Francisco. One man who accomplished this rare achievement mentioned a rather surprising difficulty when asked to tell of his biggest hurdle.
He said that the toughest part of the trip wasn't traversing the steep slopes of the mountains or crossing hot, dry, barren stretches of desert. Instead, he said, "The thing that came the closest to defeating me was the sand in my shoes."
When we are not walking by faith, we are walking with sand in our shoes. The things we do, that we are aware that we should not do, are like little grains of sand that wear away at our relationship with God.
Those things that are not of faith are sin. Because it is disobedience to what we know God would want in our lives. And they are things that harm us spiritually.
The devil started all this sin business in the beginning with Adam and Eve. They listened to someone other than the Lord. You do know, don’t you that “The man blamed the woman, the woman blamed the serpent, and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on.”
Do you hear voices that are contrary to God’s Word? I’m not talking about a mental disorder. I’m talking about influences that would invite you, and entice you to taste forbidden fruit. If so, watch out!
Thomas Brooks, Puritan preacher of the 1600‘s said:
Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst;
He promises honor and pays with disgrace;
He promises pleasure and pays with pain;
He promises profit and pays with loss;
He promises life and pays with death.
Who you look to for information, and who you listen to for guidance, determines more about your condition than you may realize. We commit all kinds of sins, but perhaps have been missing the ones that are done because we are not doing them from faith.
We will do better when our faith is shaped by what we learn from scripture. That is where we can be sure what it is God really does want us to do. Then we will have a faith that is not just from ideas shaped by our own desires.
Now is the time for us to truly examine ourselves to see whether what we are doing helps us to be closer to, or takes us farther from, God. Things that are not from faith are sin.
But we can't be like the little four year old boy who told his mother as they were walking out of church, "Mom, I'm not going to sin anymore."
“Well, that’s nice,” she said. “Why have you decided to not sin?”
And he answered: "Jesus said if you don't sin, you can throw the first stone. And I want to throw the first stone."
That little boy wanted to take pleasure in casting stones. But Jesus didn't. And we shouldn't either. God is the ultimate judge of sin. And He warns us so we can come under His protection.
The more we learn of what God wants us to do, the closer we can be to Him and His will for us. He wants us to live by a faith that is informed by His Word.
But do you get the idea that sin is our problem? It has always been our problem. Sin separates us from God. Sin destroys people’s lives, marriages, families and more.
And there is only one answer for sin: The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! He alone is our sin-bearer and Savior.
Because we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, we need help! WE NEED A SAVIOR. There is no way that we can save ourselves or make up for our sin.
Sadly we cannot be good enough to make up for the wrongs we have committed. We need a perfect Savior to pay the price.
II Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Lets let our faith guide us to be the people God wants us to be.
CONCLUSION:
I heard about a guy who was back in his bedroom, and his wife was in another part of the house. He was getting dressed and he said, “Honey, is this shirt too dirty, or do I need to put on another one?”
She said, “Put on another one.” Later he walked in there with the other shirt on and said, “You didn’t look at that shirt. How did you know it was dirty?”
She said, “I didn’t have to. I know you. If you had to ask, it was too dirty, believe me.”
The same is true with a lot of moral issues. If you have to ask whether it’s right or wrong, chances are, you don’t need to mess with it.
Jesus already has. He did it on the cross.
